236. En la Barberia no se Llora (No crying Allowed in the Barbershop). Pepon Osorio. 1994 CE Mixed-media installation.

• Form and Content
  • This is a large installation recreating the center of Latino male culture: the barbershop
  • The interior of a barbershop in which “no crying is allowed”--a masculine attribute
  • Photos of Latino men on the walls
  • Video screens on the headrest depict men playing, a baby being circumcised, and men crying
  • Appropriately tackey and grimy setting
• Context
  • Pepon Osario is a Puerto Rican–born artist living in New York
  • Kitsch items are used everywhere as symbols of consumer culture
  • Originally a temporary work constructed in a neighborhood building, not ina museum
  • This work challenges the viewer to question issues of identity, masculinity, culture, and attitudes